Power Rangers Dino Charge
by IAmForReal
Summary: "Oh, we're doing a project together. A really big one on dinosaurs. It's much too awesome for people like you to know about. The only people great enough to know about it would be the Power Rangers!" Jason Lee Scott came to North Point to fix a big mistake. Now, he's managing a new Power Rangers team and helping to save the world...again. (My own personal take on Dino Charge.)
1. Ep 1: Five

_Welcome to the world of Dino Charge. Here we have my own personal take on how the new season of Power Rangers could go, based on rumors and character descriptions and sometimes Kyoryuger itself. Some episodes and qualities are similar to their Japanese counterparts, like me keeping names of monsters because of my lack of creativity. I hope you all like the story, and feel free to give me some feedback/constructive criticism. Charge on ahead (you see what I did there, I'M SO PUNNY...)!_

_WARNING: Cursing, some darker themes, not completely child-proof..._

* * *

><p>Jason looked up at the large mansion before him, stooped that Hayley's exaggeration of her niece's house was true. <em>Nervous is different from scared, <em>he thought to himself. Every glass window seemed to close in on him as he looked down at the little card in his hand, and promptly threw his hands up in the air. Intimidated by the house and his best friend's genius of a friend, he knocked on the door.

Obvious footsteps approached, but the door refused to open.

"Uh, hello?" He knocked again.

A simple silence hung on the opposite side of the door.

"I'm looking for...Kiera Bogan. Tommy Oliver and Hayley Ziktor sent me. AHHHHH!"

A strong yank on the arm pulled him inside ever so abruptly and shut the door behind him. The first red ranger shrunk under the glass chandelier as he looked for the one who roped him into the lavish house.

"Aunt Hayley sent you?"

"Ah!" Jason yelped as he whipped around. He was to look down at his destination, which came in the form of a young woman with thick glasses and sleek blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail. "Yeah, that's right. You're..."

"Kiera Bogan, yeah. You're Tommy and Hayley's messenger?"

"Yeah, and you're Hayley's nie-"

"Niece? Yeah. Come with me!"

Jason didn't expect such a rush, for her hand was clutching him arm again and pulling him towards the other side of the house. He passed by too many marble figures and delicate vases before being brought over to another door. In the speed of light she punched in a code and pulled him in before he even saw the door open.

As he skittered down a flight of stairs, the only question that came up so far was, "How are _you_ related to Hayley?" His arm was suddenly let go and light footsteps ran to what sounded like the other side of dark.

"You tell me." The lights switched on.

"Holy crap...oh that's how."

His side held an average appearance. The side opposite him, however, was truly a technologist's paradise. It was as simple to Jason as three big monitors and a hundred buttons, but to a possessor like Kiera or Hayley it was far more complex than one wanted to understand.

"Jeez," he said as he walked over to the panel of glowing buttons. "This is all yours?"

"It's nothing really," Kiera replied as she dropped a stack of papers onto a nearby table. From the corner of her eye, she saw Jason's fingers grazing over the buttons. And promptly walked over.

"Ow!"

"Don't touch anything. That's pretty much how we got into this mess."

Jason only grinned sheepishly and tried to hide the nervousness tingling within his voice. "Right." He walked over to the large marble table that sat in the center of the room, sitting on it as Kiera glided back and forth through the room. "So you live here by yourself?"

"The house isn't really mine, but yes I do."

"That must get really lonely."

Kiera's frantic hands seemed to calm down just a bit. "Yeah. So I assume you're here to help me get this project back on track?"

"Well, what is this project anyway? The two of them never got around to telling me."

The screens suddenly flickered on, and Jason found himself looking at the most common sight to his eyes. An array of colorful figures stared him in the face as Kiera began speaking in what seemed her most comfortable tone.

"In prehistoric times, ten small, but powerful stones called the Energems were scattered between ten dinosaurs. When the extinction occurred, they somehow absorbed the great power of the asteroids that hit Earth. After the dinosaurs' extinction, they became scattered around the earth. If it gets into the wrong hands...the result on the bigger world can be fatal. So when Aunt Hayley and I discovered these, we knew we needed to do something. When we were pardoned from MIT to gain the Energem that was already discovered, we got to work. We created a molecular transit device that helped us to extract the power of the Energem. When we had the abundance, we sent it out to all the points of the world. This would be matched in terms of power, size, etc. Doing so would help us pinpoint where the rest of the gems were, so we could harness the power and keep it from causing any destruction. And we succeeded. From Hayley's base in Reefside, we had control over all of the Energems all over the world. Every piece of breakthrough research on one device."

_This is where I come in,_ Jason thought to himself.

"Then one day, some dumbass comes along, pushes a button, and destroys the whole experiment."

Jason let out a nervous laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah. With a push of a button, every piece of data and power we had of the gems were gone. All the data gone. All the locations gone. Now the opportunity to control that power is anyone's game."

He tugged on the collar of his shirt. As his face grew hotter, Kiera huffed.

"I can't believe that guy! We worked so hard on everything. Now we've got the world to save."

"Maybe it was just a mistake," Jason said defensively. "He probably didn't mean to."

"Yeah, yeah. You and your morals." Kiera said as she met him on the table to clean up a few more papers. "So did my aunt Hayley tell you anything else?"

"Kind of, but not really." Jason replied. "I do recall Tommy telling me, 'You got one down. Screwing _this_ one up will be the end of you'. And then Hayley said, 'Do not, I repeat, do _not_ screw this one up Jason Lee Scott'."

Kiera suddenly dropped her papers at the sound of _his_ name. Slowly, but pensively, she looked him in the eye.

"You're…Jason Lee Scott?" she asked. Jason, in his full honestly, nodded.

The next sentence was a hard punch to the face.


	2. Professionalism

Jason awoke with a slow pace as an ice pack was slapped onto his cheek, cooling down the burning numbness in his blood.

"Sorry…" he heard someone mutter. Lifting his head up a little, he saw that he was no longer in that computer room but rather on a couch under the high ceilings again. Kiera sat with a blank expression on the coffee table across from him.

"Yeah, thanks." His voice came out rough, but had enough sarcasm to make her scoff.

"It was instinctive. After all, _you_ were the one who ruined our experiment."

"Guilty…" he muttered. He added, "My eye hurts."

"Well some people are blind, so get up. I only punched you."

Jason chose not to argue and helplessly propped himself up to the point where Kiera sighed and helped him up herself.

"Now," Kiera said, sitting down in a nearby loveseat. "Tell me why the hell you were tampering with our project."

He sighed. Upon reuniting with Tommy and his best friend Hayley Ziktor, he had come across their big project himself which was made to help keep the world intact. Exploring the successful project had been manifest for Jason. Now because of him, it had done the exact opposite. He screwed up big time.

"Damn button…" he muttered before looking up at Kiera.

"Things can break in an instant, you know." she said.

"I do know," Jason said with a deep sigh and sat up straighter. "That's why I came here. To make this right, to…do something rather than just sit on my ass and wait for it to fix itself."

The tiniest of smiles ghosted itself upon Kiera's lips, but the professionalism that she brought in a tiny package overshadowed. "Well, now I know that you're smart."

"I try."

She only replied with a hum as she tramped over to the open kitchen, which Jason noted looked extremely lavish and luxurious wrapped up in a silver bow. She returned with a cold glass of water for him, which he gratefully took.

"So I messed up the project," he said. "I'm here, and it seems like you've already gotten used to me. What do I have to do?" Kiera paused, then sat back in front of him on the coffee table with her hands folded and a slouch.

"You remember those colored figures on the left screen?"

"Of course. They're power rangers."

"Which you'd know, of course." Being the niece of the best friend of a series of power rangers gave her the gist of most of the archives. It was simple enough for Hayley to tell her that the one who had tampered the project was indeed the first red ranger. "It safe to say I was inspired by Hayley's own experience..."

Jason was now sitting and feeling more upright than ever as the prospect dawned on him. "You're creating a Power Rangers team."

"It's the only suitable option I could come up with."

"Why?" Kiera soon went over to sit next to him and her folded hands became tighter.

"A few months ago, people began spotting a...mutant around town. Hours after they did, North Point was attacked. By a monster, a rubber looking one with a staff and horns and looking like the ones Rangers would fight."

"You guys were attacked by a monster?"

"Not to worry, the Silver Guardians came down to help us. We haven't seen them since. But I kept seeing their jets fly overhead, and I knew they were coming. So I got to work. They were powerful, they were strong, and left five people dead. The only people who would be able to manage them-"

"Are Power Rangers," Jason finished for her.

"In an effort to control both these attacks as well as the Energems," she told him. "I would create the powers of a Power Ranger, and attempt to harness the power of the Energem into them. They would be under control, hard to retrieve, and saving the world all at once."

"It all fits. We fight monsters, we've got a mentor, and we've got colored suits. Which reminds me, you have to show me the real suits one time."

Kiera almost smiled, but cut herself off for she had a job to do. "I don't want to hurt people. I don't want people to get hurt for no reason."

"If we don't do something like this, then more people end up getting hurt. You can't really escape it." he replied. "What do I need to do?" She bent over to her side and raised a large silver box to her lap. It was a case that Jason hadn't noticed, and assumed that she had brought it up while he was unconscious.

"There are a total of seven morphers in here, five complete and two incomplete. Seven powers and seven colors. You need to succeed with five of them. Get me five people who seem that they would personas of rangers red, blue, green, black, and pink."

"What, no yellow?"

"Five. And if you can do this within the next forty eight hours...you won't have to stay in a cheap motel. You can stay here in this luxurious mansion of mine."

"I wasn't gonna..." Jason began, but the small smirk on Kiera's face told him there was no point. He sighed, and said, "You'd help me save money?"

"Sure. If you can get me five potential rangers in the next forty eight hours. That's how you can make it up to me." She stood up and patted the box. "I'll set this all up downstairs. Bring them there. I suggest you get started."

And once again, Jason was in that first rush as she sauntered back down to the basement. "Wait!" he called. But she simply held up five fingers.

"Five!"

The door closed.


	3. Teenagers

It was about four p.m. in North Point, California, and Jason was hot, tired, and longing for a chair. He had one more day unless the Day's Inn down the road became his only option, and successfully convinced himself that he could turn in. The day was young, however, and he still had some exploring to do. He appreciated the little town was bright, thirty minutes away from Angel Grove, and full of life. He never expected for it, however, the local life to be so populated.

Readjusting his backpack on his shoulder, he crossed the busy streets where people were bustling from curb to curb. He aimed at the place where too many people were entering and exiting constantly. A tiny square restaurant held itself between a CVS and an Hour Eyes. The eagerness for everyone to get in wasn't understandable for him, but he did find himself with wide eyes once he stepped into the café himself.

It was almost like it was meant for the beach to Jason, with tan wood for walls as well as the bar which took up the most space and squared itself around the entire one-roomed place. Booths and tables circled around the whole restaurant, which were all occupied by people and groups of people. The whole place was crowded to its maximum.

_Look at that_, Jason thought to himself. _My newest mission will be finding a seat._

Luckily for him, a man threw down a checkbook on the bar counter and opened up one of the many bar stools. With a relieved sigh, he made his way over to his seat. Scents of coffee and bacon danced around him and he was met with the large stove (or grill…or oven…or all in one) enclosed within the square bar. His stomach grumbled and he easily decided on what to order.

In front of him, he heard a squeal and looked down to see a young African American girl spill water on her bright pink shirt as well as on the counter before her. He hissed as she hustled to clean up the mess she made before she noticed him.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, throwing the damp towel to the side. "Welcome to Tourism. What can I get for you?"

"Just a coffee please."

She nodded, jabbed the pen into her hair, set the coffee maker in front of her, and then turned back to the stove. Jason heard the door bell jingle behind him over all the noise and the empty seat beside him was soon taken. The first thing he saw was red.

Beside him was a boy who looked the same age as the waitress, with curls of dark black hair and tan skin. His red shirt corresponded with his backpack, Jason noted, as the boy noticed him staring. Jason tried waving it off and gave a greeting nod to him, who replied with a casual "Hey." The girl was then back at her spot at the counter, now wrestling with pouring Jason's coffee and writing down more orders as well as wiping down the counter.

"Here you go," she said, handing Jason his coffee as well as a load of creamer and sugar. He replied with a grateful thanks and a big gulp. She turned to the boy next to him and opened her mouth to speak, but he quickly cut her off.

"Two questions," he said. "One: Don't other people work here? And two: You _do_ take breaks right?"

"Answer 1: No shit," she replied. "And answer 2: No shit."

"Then go take a break and ask some other person to work for what they're getting paid for," Jason heard curiously. He realized that the boy in red noticed her hassle as well.

"Very funny..." she said while returning to her work space. "No need, dude. I've got this all under contr-" Her elbow suddenly knocked down a pitcher full of ice water which fell to the floor with a plastic crash. Jason jumped a bit in his seat while he frowned. But she simply looked back to him. "What can I get you, Tyler?"

Tyler looked at her and then down to the mess at the floor. "I'm still thinking. Maybe you can come back to me when you're finished cleaning up."

As she grabbed a pile of towels and held the pen in her mouth, she shot him a thankful glance and said, "Thanks."

"No problem, Sheryl."

"Shelby."

"Hmm?"

She took the pen out of her mouth. "Shelby. My name's Shelby."

Tyler grinned sheepishly. "Right. Sorry." Shelby nodded and bent back down to the floor. Jason glanced over at this Lucas, who seemed to find great joy in simply looking around the whole café. After taking a big relaxed gulp of his coffee, he turned to him.

"So why is this place called Tourism?" he asked, successfully gaining the attention of him.

Tyler turned to him with a friendly smile. "Well it's a natural tourist restaurant, for travelers at least. The owner changed the name after she saw how many people stopped by to eat here."

"Nice."

"Yeah. You're new here?"

Jason looked at him, a sheepish smirk dancing on his lips. "That obvious?"

"You did ask the origin of this restaurant's name. And no resident of North Point comes in here with a backpack like that," he replied, gesturing to the thickly packed bag under Jason's feet. He nodded impressively and put his hands up in mock-surrender.

"So maybe I've never heard about this place until the last week."

Tyler fake-gasped. "I've never been so offended!" he said sarcastically, which made them both burst into calm laughter. "Well you've come to a good place. Don't let the people get you down." He held out his hand. "Welcome to North Point. I'm Tyler."

"Jason Lee Scott."

"What do you need?" Shelby was now off the floor, her hair a bit messier than before, when Tyler found her again.

"Just an iced tea, please."

"Gotcha," she replied as the door jingled again. A flash of green appeared in the corner of Jason's eye and he was immediately poked in the ribs. Jutting to the side in surprise, a young boy muttered a sorry before turning to Shelby. At his side gleamed a thin fencing sword.

"Hey Shel," he called above the noise. His voice carried an ever-so-slight country twang taking Jason aback. "Can you get me a-"

Shelby leaned forward to hand an iced tea to Lucas and a grilled cheese sandwich to the boy, cutting him off with a smirk. "I was wondering where you were. It was starting to get cold."

"Thanks."

"No problem, Riley."

"And there's another dude asking for the pretty waitress," he added. Riley apologized again to Jason and made his way back to a booth in the corner, the only other empty seat Jason could see. Both Tyler and Jason shrugged and went back to their drinks and Shelby as she got together a notepad and glanced past Tyler. The two men in red saw her scowl and begrudgingly walk over to the table behind them.

"Shall we ever so discreetly watch this unwanted encounter?" Tyler suggested.

Jason smiled and raised his drink to them. "We shall."

Shelby's reluctant footsteps approached the common boy in black that was supposedly waiting for her. He glanced up and grew a content smile, while she gritted her teeth and put on a fake smile.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Well let me look again," he said going back to the menu. "I just got the first thing I wanted."

She hated it, but her face began growing hotter. He spoke with a thick New Zealand accent, as everyone knew, and had a supposable charm within his voice. Then Shelby noticed him looked forward to another table, and she forced herself to look. A table of taller, cooler, prettier girls flirtatiously waved to him. Her nose scrunched as she turned back to him.

Exasperatedly, she said, "Are you legitimately ready to order or not?"

He simply laughed and increased her impatience. "I know that we're out of school, so I'll just let you recall yourself." There went the charm in the voice that would've made any girl in North Point swoon. "I'm pretty sure we had French together. I'm Chase Randall. I-"

"I know who you are."

As much as she hated to admit it, Chase McCuran was a boy that a lot of girls wanted. Sure, he was cocky and conceited ninety nine percent of the time. But he was also polite, courteous, smart, handsome…

_It means nothing. Snap out of it, Shelby Moore!_

"And who would that be?" Chase asked her, snapping her out of her daze.

She put on a sarcastic smile. "A very bad flirt. Now what do you want?"

"You."

"…that's not on the menu."

"It should be. A lot of my boys that know you would agree." He stood up and tried giving one of his winning smiles. You know, a lot of guys would love to have you."

"Way to make me feel awesome, cause I'm just property to have, right?"

"Not like that way, but…" Chase looked down and shoved his hands in his pocket. "You're right. That was completely insensitive of me. So let me make it up to you. I'll take you out."

"Excuse me?"

"On a date tonight. It'll be fun."

"…nah, I'm good."

Now it had heavily attracted the attention of both Jason and Tyler, who were constantly shooting looks to each other and sipping their drinks at the little movie theater. It had also grappled Riley down at the end as well, who already had one foot out of his booth.

"Come on, Shelby," Chase cooed. "I promise I'll make up for all the times I've been an asshole like that.."

"I'd rather stay at home and watch Netflix please," she replied. He made a move for her hand, and she quickly retracted it. "And I'd rather you leave me alone." Before Chase could say anything else, Tyler hopped out of his seat and strode casually over to the pair.

"You heard the lady," he said. "She's vexed with your presence." As Chase scoffed, Riley suddenly appeared behind him. Jason backed only slightly into his stool, intrigued by all the possibilities of which the situations could end in.

"I have a sword. Touch her, I hurt you." Riley said, Shelby nervously pressed between him and Chase.

"What are you gonna do, tiny town? Prick me with a plastic needle?" Chase said, which ultimately triggered Ryan to give him a not-so-soft shove.

"Come on guys..." Tyler attempted to settle the pair, but Chase laughed humorlessly and made a quick lunge for the opposite side.

"No!" Shelby suddenly cried out, and as Chase charged, she jabbed her elbow into his chest and then easily flipped him over to the ground. A surprised gasp bubbled within Jason, who immediately went back to his coffee and watched on.

Tyler looked at her with a wide smile. "Dude..." Shelby, on the other hand, had come into shock over her impulse. She didn't regret it, however, but grew increasingly insecure of the situation.

"Hey!" One of the girls who had been distantly seducing Chase caught Shelby's attention. "What the hell is wrong with you, freak?"

"Oh, keep your tutus on," Shelby retorted. "If I let him go any further, I could've gotten him for harassment."

"What _is_ wrong with you?" Chase asked from his place on the floor.

"Lots of things," she replied before running back to the kitchen. Riley made sure to thank her on the way before turning to Chase again.

"Do something like that again and you'll be getting a real hit from me," he assured before taking his place in the corner.

It was only Tyler and Chase that remained, and Lucas already perceived and knew how Chase was either loved or hated by many. But he held his hand out for him, who simply shoved it away and got up.

"I can get up by myself," Chase said.

Tyler laughed a bit. "I'm sure you can. But it's nice to get some help now and then."

"I don't need any." Chase replied before walking out of the cafe.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders and went back to his spot with Jason, who greeted his return with wide eyes and an uncertain smile. "Well, how are you liking North Point so far?"

Jason shook his head. "Hell of a day..."


	4. Handling It Together

"It's almost like Paris," Tyler told Jason. "People love walking around here."

It turned out that Jason had found a lot to talk about with Tyler, and so after twenty minutes of conversation, Tyler had volunteered to show Jason around town a bit. It would quickly be completing Jason's exploration task without the lonely.

"There seems to pretty cheap housing and good food here," he explained. "Hence, 'attraction'."

"It seems like a nice town," Jason replied. "You've got good people and a good sense of family over here."

"I think that too. People aren't as enthusiastic about it though. But I guess it helped when those monsters attacked us like two months ago."

"Yeah, I heard about that," Jason nodded sympathetically (emphatically). "I heard that five people died. What else happened here?"

"Five people died, more of them injured, and the whole city was on lock down. I don't think I've ever seen it hold still until the day no one went outside doors."

"Was it scary?"

"The monsters?" Tyler asked. He grew a comforted smile and told him, "Nah. Seeing people die because of them, now that's more scary than any monster I'd face."

A range of lightning blasts suddenly enclosed the pair, who were taken off their feet in shock and pushed onto their backs in surprise. For moments Jason only saw pillars of smoke rise above him into the great blue sky. Screams soon followed.

He saw Tyler shoot up, and seemingly try to make the bright side of the situation glow. "Hey...we were just talking about you guys."

Jason wrestled himself off the ground high enough to see a multitude of guns. An army of silver monsters had surrounded them, sending him into a crazy whirlwind (which in retrospect he should've expected because _Kiera_). They were like bulls, aiming for where they saw the color red.

"You should get out of here," he heard Tyler tell him.

Jason scoffed. "And you shouldn't?"

"I can handle this." Tyler said before he got into a stance as a monster charged for him. But Jason beat him to it, sending a hard punch into its chest and kicking another one to the ground. The younger boy looked to him with an incredulous smile.

"Then why don't we handle it together?" And they took off.

Sensing that they were indeed going to retaliate, the soldiers threw themselves into every corner and slice of free space they found and charged. Lucas and Jason were already doing the same, with Tyler impressing Jason with his the same fights he put up. The strangers worked seamlessly, throwing kicks and flips all over the little grass terrain they were in.

As a group of monsters left and weaved their way into the city, Tyler signaled Jason. "Go help the rest of them. I got this." So Jason ran off and created a human dam to block the new threats. Most of the people had already retreated into one of the many buildings aligned, so it was just Jason and a group of the creatures.

Well, _almost_.

From the corner of his eye, he saw innocent shadows looming in an ally for cover. They were all led by the only one out of the ally way, carefully looking left and right in order to protect the crowd. Jason recognized her as the waitress from Tourism just as two monsters left him and aimed for her.

"Shelby!" he called before he was swarmed.

Shelby gasped. She had never seen them up close, nor did she want to. After making sure that everyone behind her was and would be safe, she stood and prepared herself for an attack.

"Weave your way through the back and get inside," she commanded. The eldest out of the group nodded and hassled everyone inwards to safety. Unfortunately, she wasn't one to be quick, and she couldn't see a sword coming down overhead at lightning speed. She heard the sheath of a blade, and then the pressure of it being stopped all together. In surprise (and grudge, because she wanted to fight), she whipped around to see another figure holding the sword up, being her guard.

"You've got to be kidding..." she muttered. But in front of her, Chase sent her a sparkling smile.

As he threw the monsters to the ground, he told her, "You know you wouldn't want to do this without me."

Peeking past him, she smiled coyly. "Oh, really?" she replied. And Chase was suddenly yanked back by the collar of his shirt before Shelby was in front of him and kicked down a monster that he hadn't seen. She looked back to him with a smirk.

"Impressive," he complimented. She simply looked at him, scoffed, and ran deeper into daylight to fight. With a smile, Chase tailed her into the sea.

Tyler had been taken a region down from Jason, who had been joined by Shelby and Chase, and had to fight his very own exclusive platoon of monsters himself. He commended himself for succeeding so far, and because now everyone had been out of sight and there was no one to hurt. Except for the ones fighting, obviously. Although happily enjoying the thrill, he was a bit overwhelmed with all these monsters swarming him from every angle possible. It was a kaleidoscope in the exposition of the dark. He was both confused and relieved when he heard the thin draw of a sword and a playful battle cry.

"En guarde!" someone called and jumped into the ring with him. To the side, he saw Riley with a silver gleam pointing and poking a round of times. It was causing no pain, but enough things unexpected to make the monsters fall back.

Once the road fell silent and the monsters dispersed, Tyler turned to him. "You fence?"

"No, I poke people for a living," Riley said, the sarcastic tone blowing over the space between them.

Tyler chuckled, and then hit him on the shoulder. "Come on. We need to help the rest of them!"


	5. To Learn

_Note: I'm not too good on fight scenes, so sorry if they're a little weak._

* * *

><p>Kiera typed away furiously on her computer, already aware of the fact jets had been flying over her roof and North Point was swarmed with monsters. Weeks of research and she still couldn't figure our what they were coming for. Right now they were harming North Point for free kicks in her eyes. She wanted answers. She wanted a solution. She wanted Jason back knowing that the first red ranger that was her responsibility was in dangerous hands.<p>

"Come on what are you after?" she growled as the screens flickered against her blonde hair.

~X~

"You two?" Chase said as the fighting seemed to fall into a pause.

"Us?" Riley asked. "You."

"I'd like to be a hero if that's okay with you," he replied and turned to wink at Shelby, who rolled her eyes in response. When he turned back, Riley was glaring at him before he rolled his eyes as well.

"Come on guys, fighting's the thing that always brings the most wars," Tyler said.

"He's right," Jason agreed. "Now's not the time. You obviously stayed for a reason. Show it."

With a nod from each of them, the five dispersed into the crowd fighting to for all the same reasons. It soon broke off with three and two, Tyler and Riley fighting alongside with Jason and Chase and Shelby fighting together (begrudgingly). It was almost as if the team was bound by fate, kicking and punching with valiant synchronicity.

As they fought individually, Lucas tore down a monster and said, "I feel a pun coming on." He smiled before abrupt shots fired in the distance. They all ducked at the sudden noise before realizing that the police and local SWAT team had arrived.

One of the officers signaled for them to leave. "Get out of the way! Get into one of the buildings!"

"Come on you all," Jason gestured as he grouped all the kids up and moved them into the town and then into an alley.

"Are we supposed to be safe here?" Chase asked him as he inhaled sharply, clearly exhausted from the fight.

"No, but..." Jason said staring at the asphalt floor. "I need you to trust me. Everyone join hands."

"Huh?" they all asked but Jason gave them a nudging look. They all interlocked hands quickly as he whipped out a small gold-colored device.

"Are you gonna drug us?" Riley asked with wide eyes.

Jason chuckled. "I'm ninety nine percent sure you guys are safe. We've gotta get you somewhere protected anyway. Just...this is all sudden, but trust me."

He pushed the small button and a shred of confused yelps faded into colorful columns that made them all disappear.

~X~

While Jason landed ever so gracefully on his feet, the four kids behind him topped onto the tan marble flooring that took the place of the dark black bottom. Jason was relieved that the little device Hayley had given him worked. It came to mind to thank her when Kiera was nowhere to be seen; however there were five silver boxes lined up on the table. It was fine to assume that she had put it there instead of a mystical force, that may or may not have scared four teenagers to death.

"What the heck just happened?" Riley said with a tone of bedlam as he hopped up from the ground first and made his way to the others.

Shelby took Riley's hand and pulled herself up. "What's going on..."

"We just gotta relax and that's a big computer," Tyler told them, shifting over to a marvel at the whole area.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just as impressive as however you got us here!" Chase added with furrowed brows.

"I said to trust me, right?" Jason said, stumbling back a little. The four grouped together before looking to him uneasily.

"I'm a girl. I don't feel comfortable being in a random man's house," Shelby informed him. "You could be a rapist for all I know."

Jason smirked. "Now why would the first red power ranger be a rapist?" And jaws dropped in the room.

Chase scoffed. "You're bluffing."

As if on cue with him and Kiera's sorcery, a picture flickered onto the screen behind Jason. He looked at it with a big grin. A photo of young Jason Lee Scott without his helmet and with his tight spandex glimpsed at everyone with an assuring smile.

"I don't think so."

Chase gave him a look of pure awe, and whispered, "I have your action figures." He heard Riley mutter a good to know under his breath, but shook it off with his head. "So what's this about?"

Jason tried to recall most of what Kiera had told him. "Those monsters we were fighting...they aren't going away. They're here, they're looking for something. And they'll get through anything and anyone who stands in their way. We can't risk anymore people getting hurt."

"That's what the cops are for!"

He looked at Shelby, who's confident demeanor had been replaced with fear. "Do you guys need to sit down?" When they shook his head, he sighed and prepared them for a storm. "Energems are rare powerful stones that were discovered to be of prehistoric Jurassic ages, which means that they walked with dinosaurs. But they have a great power that many people around the world aren't able to control yet. But my...colleagues...may have found a way. Simultaneous with keeping the power of the Energems at bay, they will fight to save their city and the world from these monsters. We've connected the energems to heroes, with the heroes being of colorful spandex, hard helmets, courage, determination..."

The room fell in silence as invisible colors wielded their way around them. Jason didn't need to say anything. They knew what he meant.

"Why did..." Riley started. "Why did you choose us?"

"Because you didn't run," Jason told them. "You fought for something, you fought for those innocent people. Hell you may have even fought to save your own life. But the thing is we can't have people getting hurt anymore."

"So tell us," Tyler couldn't believe it, so he wanted to hear it for himself in concrete format. "What is it you want us to do?"

Jason laid a hand on the boxes. "I want you guys as the next line of Power Rangers."

A collection of gasps mixed with skeptical scoffs elevated into the room, sinking Jason's hopes down just a little bit. He turned around to the back door, which was sealed tightly, and he could feel Kiera's energy bouncing through the door. He wanted her here, to stand by him. But for now, he was on his own.

"Are you serious?" Shelby said after a while.

"Yes. I've seen you guys fight, literally like two minutes ago! Please...you can do this. I know you can. Not just for physical skill, but in your minds you know you can do it too."

"You've been here a day..."

"And we need help as quickly as possible. Please," he said. "I've been scoping the whole city, and no one's stood out to me as power rangers as much as you did. I'm not forcing you to do anything, but we need you."

"Nobody needs us," Chase muttered, but looked Jason in the eye. "Sorry, but I'm sure there are better, more committed people out there. I've just...got a lot going on. Don't really have time to save the world."

"My house would burn and my parents would kill me," Shelby admitted and gave Jason a sad smile upon seeing his own falter. "I'm sorry."

"I've got business to focus on," Riley told him after shaking his head. "I just can't."

Tyler glanced around at his three partners, watching their confident demeanor weaken at the hands of a choice. He looked down upon his own.

_That went quicker than I thought_, Jason thought silently. He should've expected it, however. Not everyone wants to be a power ranger, and they were just kids. He couldn't expect them all to throw their lives on the line. Would Kiera think differently? Would the world end from now on? Would he have to squeeze into his suit once again?

"And that's fine too..." Jason ended up saying. "Thank you for letting me waste your time. Don't tell anyone what I told you, especially the red ranger part." A small chuckle erupted within the room. "You just have to do one more favor."

"Which is?"

"Take these with you. They've got nowhere else to go." Jason's fingers drummed lightly on the silver boxes and he prayed he knew what he was doing. "Make sure no one sees you with these and show them to no person, understand?"

"That's kind of hard when we're, oh I don't know, in the public eye." Riley retorted. "How are we supposed to get home?"

He smirked. "I can do that for you. Just come over here and get these boxes." He began studying their shirts as they walked over. "Okay, so...Chase, grab box 3-no 2! Yeah, the second one. Riley get the fourth one please, Tyler the...first, and Shelby the fifth. Now give me your addresses and I'll get you home."

Tyler watched discreetly as the three of them were magically transported home the same way they had all came, in complete and utter surprise and fascination. It was just him and Jason in the room, and in Jason's perspective it was just Jason. He watched as he turned around and sighed while taking a slouched place on the table. "Kiera," Jason called. "You can come out now."

"Who's Kiera?" Tyler called out to him.

Jason abruptly leaped off the table in surprise to see that he hadn't transported Tyler back home. He grabbed the device off the table before asking, "What's your address?"

"You think I'm leaving?" he replied and walked up to the table and grabbed the silver box. Jason watched silently as he opened it curiously, like a young boy inspecting a toy. Tyler took out a bright yellow blaster and a small red cylinder rolling onto his palm. He looked at him with a face that Jason believed was pure elation as Tyler held a morpher for the first time.

He told him, "I've still got a lot to learn."

~X~

Riley had reached beyond impressed ten minutes ago. He landed right in front of his apartment door, which stood as quiet and as lonely as ever. He was relived and shaken all at once that the simple man he'd poked in the ribs earlier was a red ranger and had the power to send him places. In an empty hall, the grip of the silver box was still pressed into his hand.

In his independent living, the fencing equipment was set up neatly on the window's side. Everything seemed the same, falling into a neat place and orderly fashion. He walked over to his bed, fixed the blanket a bit, and threw the silver box onto it. Opening it, he found a yellow-colored revolver alongside a green plastic object resembling a battery. He fell onto the bed himself, realizing what Jason had given him and what he internally didn't want to return.

~X~

Shelby landed on her feet and still toppled onto the plush white couch before her. She looked up before realizing she was home...or in her house, at least. The chandeliers and lamps hung high above her with the world. The house hung quietly too, and she almost forgot that she was alone for a good amount of time to come. It's not like her parents would come bursting through the door any second, so she brought the box onto her lap.

Uncertainly, she grabbed the blaster in both hands and ran her fingers on it in awe. Her finger accidentally grazed the trigger, and a sudden blast went through the room, making the echoes of her screaming surround her. She glanced at the hole in the carpet before catching sight of the small pink battery pressed into the velvet box. It matched her shirt, and Jason had done it right. She looked out the window at the big world and thought.

~X~

Chase ran into his room in slight fear (Chase Randall scared? Please...). When he became familiar with his surroundings, he breathed out a loud sigh of relief and fell into one of the chairs sitting patiently at his table. It wobbled as he threw the large box onto it. A blaster burst itself in his eyes, a black battery in its support. He heard a car pull up into the driveway as he realized what Jason had done.

"Son of a-"


	6. Winners

"Did that better than I expected," Kiera said coming out of her hiding. Jason had spent the rest of his evening inside the basement headquarters carefully researching even more on this whole project as everyone had seemingly left. It was dark outside, and he had sent Tyler home after giving him a briefing. Tyler, to their relief, had agreed wholeheartedly to be a ranger. Jason had sent him off with a red power box.

"At least I did it," he retorted. She plopped down next to him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Jason looked up at her. "For what?"

"You did what I was simply afraid to do for weeks, maybe months. You did it for me."

He grinned. "I did it to be financially efficient."

Kiera shook her head. "Sucks to admit that you succeeded. Your room is upstairs." She could feel Jason giving her a grateful smile, but rose before she could catch it. "Aunt Hayley found the Paragon Prisms. I created the Dino Charge team. It's all in my hands. It was smart of you to send the boxes with them like that." Jason saw a glass cube case flip on the large panel of buttons. "Maybe they'll change their minds. All I know is..." A beep echoed through the room. Jason realized the button she had pushed had sent currents through silver boxes. "They have power now."

~X~

Sledge pensively paced under the high ceiling enclosed in the dark. For now, everything stood frozen around him and he was alone. That petite framed scientist and her family had set everything up for him. He may have seemed lazy, but he was no less smart.

In his headquarters, a large mechanical tyrannosaurus towered over him and everything else. It gleamed the color of blood and shined valiantly just for him. It was his creation and under his control, just like the world was to be in a matter of time.

"Not this time, you pathetic fools," he muttered to himself. "This time, I will win."

~X~

For once, Shelby saw both the cafe die down and the end of summer approaching. In the silent twilight holding Tourism, she heard the bell cling on the door as she wiped down the table. She glanced up, ready to greet her customer. She faced back down.

"I'll be there in just a second babe," Chase said. He gestured the lovely girl who he had brought out tonight to a nearby booth while he walked over to the counter. Shelby obviously didn't want his presence near her, but they had to talk of a common factor. He took a quick seat. "A coke and an iced tea please."

"You should write a book," she told him without looking up. "How to get a girl in two hours."

"I'll be sure to give you credit," he replied sarcastically. "But," His voice was crouching into a low whisper as the girl behind him mindlessly twirled her hair. "I need to talk to you. About what happened at that guy's house."

"Jason's house," Shelby corrected with a nod. She began speaking with a whisper as well. "Go ahead."

Chase leaned in. "He sent you a silver box, correct?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Did yours have this...well this..."

"Bright yellow colored revolver and a small pink battery?"

He frowned. "Black."

She simply shrugged and looked down at her coffee stained shirt. "Probably matched it with our shirts or whatever. But yeah, everything else matches up.

"Okay, good." Chase replied with a sigh of relief. "Just checking. Do you know what it does?"

Shelby chuckled a bit to herself. "It blasts holes through carpets."

"So a blaster _and_ a morpher..." he mused before he caught her casting an uneasy look.

"Do you want to be a Power Ranger?" she asked softly.

"Didn't we all?"

She shrugged again. "My parents weren't into the whole using swords and blasters types of things. Kept me away from it..."

"Well then..."

They were caught in a lighter moment of silence. But Shelby peered over his shoulder to see his date tonight impatiently waiting for him. "You should go. We women don't like to be kept waiting."

"Yeah..." he nodded and turned to get out of his seat. But the booths gave him a realization and he turned back around. "Hey. About what happened earlier...here, I mean here at the cafe. I'm sorry."

Shelby blinked. "You are?"

"Yeah. You...hit the nail on the head with what you said. I was going, or at least about to go, too far. It was totally out of line and inappropriate of me. And I'm sorry."

Her radiant smile seemed enough for him, whether she forgave him or not. But it quickly washed away and was replaced by a stern line. "Don't let it happen again."

He scoffed. "Sound like my mother...or a really good friend."

She simply handed him the two glasses and sent him on his way.

~X~

Kiera nor Jason expected so much to happen in twenty four hours. But a large crash had already echoed itself throughout the large mansion. Jason was out running first, followed by Kiera in a purple cardigan and they dashed down marble stairs together before making their way down to the basement. By the time they were down and Kiera switched on the light, the clock read 1:07 a.m. and there was another body in the house.

"Ah!" Kiera yelped and suddenly turned away. Jason found a young boy lifting himself off of the floor and realized why Kiera had shrieked. He was wearing nothing but a brown cloth to cover his...middle area (Jason understood Kiera _completely_). He seemed to be shivering in the warm weather and was just as scared as they were, his shoulder length hair in tired tangles and a dull stone knife at his waist.

"Where did you come from? How did you-OKAY, no need for that!" he said with a step forward. But the boy was now in defense mode, holding his weapon in front of him. "Why does that look treacherous?"

He saw a gleam in the corner of his eye, and realized that Kiera herself was holding a modern, metal, sharp sword of her own. She pointed at the boy just as he was, and he seemingly stumbled back. "Kiera..." he whispered. But she turned and gave him a wink. She pointed to a little tag on the sword, which Jason read "$2.99" off of and paused his steps all together.

"Why are you in my house?" she began. The boy opened his mouth, and only verbal bits escaped. There were no words, so Kiera put the sword down. "I'm sorry. I'm...come with us." Her hand was outstretched to the boy now, who didn't move but rather eyed the weird gesture. "It's okay. You're safe now, I promise. We won't hurt you."


	7. The Material World

_I apologize for my lack of creativity (weapon names, monsters, etc.)._

* * *

><p>The boy who had mysteriously appeared in Kiera's basement was now wrapped up in one of Jason's coats, which he was feeling carefully as if it was the most complex invention he had seen. Jason placed a glass of water in front of him, which he eyed suspiciously, as Kiera came over with a medical syringe. As soon as the needle hit his skin, he immediately began jutting back.<p>

Jason gently grabbed his arm. "Hey, hey! It's okay."

He looked at him. In broken words, he succeeded in saying, "What is she doing?"

Jason was taken aback that a word had come out of his mouth, but concealed his surprise with a shrug. It was true, though. He didn't know what Kiera had needled him for. So he left him with a glass of water and walked over to Kiera.

"He talks..." he said lowly. "That's a start. But did you have to give him a shot? I hate those things..."

"I'm doing some genetic testing," she explained as she extracted the syringe onto a small plate. "Lack of clothing and a dull stone tool. I don't mean to assume, but he doesn't come from much complexity. Those dull stone tools were most common in the Paleolithic Society."

"So you're saying he's a caveman?"

"That's what I'll figure out. But then again, I don't believe that early neanderthals were skilled in formal language just yet. That's probably going to be what throws me off. Go keep him company."

Jason nodded and went over to where the boy was cautiously sipping water out of the glass. He quietly pulled out a chair and sat next to him, taking in the boy's eyes that were full of curiosity. "Can you tell me your name, by chance?"

"Koda."

"Koda...hi. Do you know where you're from? Where you lived?"

"Nowhere near this..." he said, marveling at the high ceilings and big rooms.

"I know, it's big..." Jason laughed. "Do you know how you got here?"

"Uh..." Koda said and suddenly held out his hand. To Jason's awe, a small crystal blue stone held itself in his palm. "I think this had something do with it. I accidentally dropped it on the ground and this...portal opened up."

Kiera nearly dropped her things at the sight of the blue prism and had to run over to see if it was true. At Koda's insistence, she picked it up and held it up to the light. Jason had no idea of what she was examining, nor did Koda, but a certain light sparkled in Kiera's eyes that made them realize that she did indeed.

"Yep, that's a Energem," she announced and ran back to her work station. Jason excused himself and followed her. She typed away at her computer and a bright screen flashed in the midnight. A blueprint structure of what looked like the prism in blank color seemed to appear.

"You've seen one, right?" Jason asked her.

"Of course. How do you think Aunt Hayley and I could've done all that research? Actually, the Power Rangers' powers exist because I've worked with the Energem!"

"What do you mean? I assumed that the powers worked fine without them."

"They could've, but not as greatly. We, us scientists, discovered the Red Energem. Because we already extracted its power, it was easy for me to replicate it multiple times. The Red Energem's power is fueling the red ranger's powers at this very moment, as well as its comrades' powers."

"Red Energem. So you already have one of the twelve. Or two in this case."

"Precisely."

"You said it could destroy the world," he recalled. "What are you going to do with it now that it's in your hands?"

Kiera turned back to Koda. "How did you find this?"

Koda looked at the small stone as he tried to remember. "That was months ago. I found it encrusted into a little rock. It looked like a far more precious stone than any thing I had seen. I kept it for myself, so no one could harm it. Just yesterday, a circle of the same color opened up and I got pulled in. It was so sudden, being ripped away from what I thought was home..."

"It must have opened once I activated all the morphers," Kiera said in an epiphany.

"Probably having something to do with you replicating the powers of the Red Energem," Jason realized.

Kiera blinked, then grew some sort of a childish smile on her face. "I didn't know that would happen! That's so cool!" She began typing on her computers furiously in excitement, to the point where Jason was counting the amount of Red-Bulls she would've needed if he wasn't already pulling her away from her loves.

"Tomorrow morning," he said. She tried to protest, but Jason immediately cut her off at all ends. "You can start your pandemonium when you've gotten rest."

She huffed but after letting out a yawn, she gave in. She walked over to Koda. "Come on. Let's go get you a room and you can tell us about your home."

~X~

She had obeyed Jason, he realized, and was down at the basement before seven in the morning. Jason figured that out when he saw her blanket overthrown on her bed. After Kiera he had gone to the next room down, where Koda had been knocked out ever so peacefully. To not disturb anyone, he decided to head out early.

At fifteen minutes before noon, Jason walked out into the city with a coffee in hand, which he had gotten from Tourism once again. Not once had he caught Shelby in the crowd, or Riley sitting in the back. He hadn't seen any of the four at all unfortunately (who could blame, it was summer and teenagers wanted to sleep in). He hoped, really hoped, that he had gotten the chance to fix what he had screwed.

The friendly piece of the city was interrupted by large screams coming from afar, and then sudden blasts surrounding him just like yesterday. He realized that foot soldiers had come around him, obviously recognizing him as well, aiming their blasters at him ready to shoot at once. He was heavily outnumbered and the shrieks rung in his ear, but he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well," he said. "Come at me."

And they did.

He loved the good old power ranger days at a point, which had come to him today as he flipped and flew and punched just like he was fighting monsters in Angel Grove. It was more nostalgia as power rather than simply power itself, and he loved the thrill. He loved the feeling of some kind of longing victory in the distance, the sound of it clinging against his ears. He kicked down another monster and he was seventeen again. An abrupt flash of red hung over him for a moment before plunging to the ground with a punch.

"Tyler!" he called with slight relief. Tyler looked back to him with a smile.

"Hey," he replied. "You wanna let me handle this one? Cause," He whipped out the yellow blaster from inside his jacket and Jason grinned. "I got this."

Suddenly, a large roar thundered over head, making Tyler drop his revolver in surprise with a yelp and Jason duck. Because if anything, the noise sounded like a dinosaur. Jason may have been a genius, or Kiera had rubbed off on him in a day.

"So maybe I don't got it as much as I thought I would," Tyler admitted as they were admitted into a shadow. He looked up and gulped. A large red dinosaur structure towered over them, roaring menacingly at Tyler and his supposed ranger-ness. Beside him, a just as large creature stood with him like a guard. Jason looked at the whole situation in a daze.

"Is that a zord?" Jason asked.

"It doesn't seem to like us very much," Tyler replied. But he raised the morpher. "You should go. I can take care of all of these."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah. I'm upgraded now." Tyler sent him a wink before Jason stepped back.

"You know what to do."

Tyler looked at all the demons in front of him, then at the creature above him. "I'm gonna morph, if that's okay. But I'm gonna need you to not eat me for now." The dinosaur let out a low, seemingly confused roar. Jason was even furrowing his brows back in the corner.

Tyler whipped out his yellow revolver and a small red battery, which he pressed down upon and made glow. "Dino Charge, red ranger who doesn't have a morphing call yet!"

As soon as he slid the battery into the morpher, a sudden red beam emerged and simply shot itself to the dinosaur. He too seemed calmer and Tyler realized that he and the zord were the same as he pressed down on the top of the morpher. A red suit was soon wrapping itself around his body, the spandex feeling sending a surge of power through his body. He was a red ranger.

He looked up where the sun was glaring at him, and where the dinosaur looked at him with new curiosity. There was no longer a roar in his eye and the power of red seemed to be universal in that young moment. He felt more confident as the dinosaur suddenly turned to slash the monster beside him.

"Yeah..." Tyler said with a nod at the zord, and then seemed to look down at his body in great surprise. "Yeah! Let's do this!" And he was off.

~X~

Sledge had vowed never to fail again. Today he broke that vow as he watched the dinosaur slowly leave his demonic control and go over to the light. The good. In the sunrise of his whole plan, he had failed one part. He growled upon the scene in which the red ranger began fighting alone and that stupid dinosaur had fell into his loyalty.

"No..." he growled. Everything around him was the same, but it felt emptier.

~X~

Jason looked up at the dinosaur, which seemed still in place like a child that didn't know their next move. He quickly whipped out his cellphone.

"Kiera, did you ever make a zord?"

"...Yeah, why? Oh my god, they're already activated aren't they?"

Jason looked up again at the statuesque red figure. "Yep, they're here all right. Red one's first."

"That's so cool! I'm on a freaking roll. This power rangers thing..." He could almost here the confident smile unleashing itself. "I think I've got it down." He simply rolled his eyes and continued watching the fight.

Tyler was like a machine, never stopping once as small foot soldiers attacked him from all ends. He flipped over cars and back onto roads in stamina that could make a former ranger nostalgic and a bit jealous. It was as he made himself some room that he noticed the head of it all, a white and blue monster doing nothing but commanding his monsters to do all his heavy lifting.

"Dinosaurs and rangers?" the monster snarled as the soldiers surrounded him and his sarcasm. "Where have I not seen that before?"

Jason frowned a bit and held the phone closer. "Uh, Kiera. The monster just called you out."

"You tell me, because I'm kind of new at this," Tyler replied.

"Then this should be easy," he growled. "Get him!" Another stampede was made just for him.

Uncertainly, he whipped out his blaster-morpher thing and tried to recall what Jason had taught him the day before. Jason had been unsure himself, only following protocol by this Kiera person and going for a trial and error method the whole evening. They were alike, he realized as he pressed a button. A large blade drew itself out to glimmer at the monsters under the sunlight.

"Dino Saber!" And he was just as powerful, most likely more, than them all. With a not-so graceful ease, he pushed his way through the crowd, slashing down every monster he could. He needed to get over to the main commander before he could cause anymore trouble. Tyler heard another roar and looked up for a second to see the dinosaur zord charging along with him, crushing monsters with his feet and out of his way. He gave a little salute to his new friend before running over to catch up to the monster. His sword came in direct contact with the monster's claws and was shoved out of the way soon enough.

"Sharp enough for you?" he asked Tyler.

"Who are you?" the red ranger asked him.

"I am your biggest Crysis!" he roared. "And I will-"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Tyler said. "Say that again? You're saying your name is-"

"Crysis! I am Crysis!"

"Is that supposed to be intimidating?"

"Make no mistake. Today will be your first and last day in the suit. I'll make sure to make that happen. You think you can defeat me? On your own?" A large cackle broke out into his voice. "Look at you, all alone."

"In retrospect, I do have a giant dinosaur on my side." Tyler replied. "And I'm never alone. So I'm sorry to say, but it'll be _your _last day."

He saw no movement, but if a monster could scowl, this would be Crysis's moment to. Crysis growled, "You little-"

Suddenly, blasts of light shot all around them in four colored beams. As smoke clouded all's vision, Tyler turned around to the source of the blast and instead found a mirror. Except in a rainbow assortment of colors. Members in black, blue, pink, and green versions of his own suit marched towards him with ready and raised blasters.

"Sorry we let you fight alone..." the blue ranger said before he dropped his gun.

"I'm not," the black ranger said.

"Sorry..."

"Five rangers?" Crysis exclaimed.

Tyler turned back to him, a smile wanting to break through his helmet. "Five."


	8. Brilliance

"Thanks for showing up," Tyler said running up to the four of them. He stopped at the blue ranger, only recalling four boxes on the table being taken. "There's a blue one?"

The green ranger scoffed. "There's always a blue one."

The black ranger stepped in front of him. "There's always a yellow one too but we didn't get that."

"Sorry, you got me instead," the pink ranger butt in. The black stepped up again.

"I see that very clearly," he told her. "How about after this you and I go grab something to eat together?"

"Wrong time!" Tyler said as Crysis stood up from his place on the floor with his foot soldiers.

"Who are you people?" Crysis called.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied as the four of them fell into line with them. For a second however, Tyler fell out of line and explained, "Just in case if it wasn't, uh, we're power rangers and we're gonna destroy you so-OW!"

The black ranger slapped him on the head. "I think he figured that out."

"Yeah, yeah...Dino Charge Red!"

"Dino Charge Black!"

"Dino Charge Blue!"

"Dino Charge Green!"

"Dino Charge Pink!"

And five were a team and quite possibly the greatest thing they had ever experienced. "Dino Charge, ready!" Then they were off.

Black went over to his own corner, independence bouncing off the small metal barrels that the monsters jumped on top of. He handled them with ease. It was almost like he walked through his own little battle with a few cartwheels here and there.

"Don't worry," he said as he opened up the little case on his belt. He took out a new battery and slipped it into his morpher. "I'll put you out of your misery soon enough." With his full New Zealand accent potentially coming to full force again, he jumped and created a great explosion.

On another end, Koda tried his best to recall the procedure that Kiera had coursed him through before the fight. Kiera had given him a home as well as a morpher to go save the world, and he knew how to survive in the most drastic situations. He began flipping his morpher around to make some sort of a new form of a blaster. It seemed to work, for when he aimed and fired he shot down his own platoon of monsters. But Koda couldn't understand why they kept coming. He couldn't understand anything. Knowing that even a gun was too complex to comprehend, he began tossing the monsters away with his bare hands. It was the only thing that felt like home so far.

As Koda tried another shot, Riley put his innate ability to the test, not letting the spandex hold him back. He swung his own Dino Saber with complete grace and skill, carrying the ability to knock down his enemy in one slice. He took out another green battery from his belt and slipped it into his sword. A bright green light ran up and down the silver weapon and he leaped in the air to take down his enemies.

Shelby set up her own blaster, taking no time to wait as she shot away every soldier she could. She was quick to throw as many kicks and punches she could. The monsters flew backwards as she jumped up in the air and brought her pink power to the ground in one shot.

Tyler took on the head of the whole attack and he and Crysis were engaged in a strong battle. He went full-on by hand, keeping the blaster near and far from him as they kicked in the dirt in a vigorous pair.

"Fool..." Crysis said. "Those Paragon Prisms will be ours! You think I am to be defeated?"

"I can't predict the future," Tyler replied and threw a kick that flipped Crysis onto the ground. He heard thundering footsteps gradually getting louder before him, and in the distance the mechanical dinosaur was charging to their fight station. Far away, he could see a large explosion behind him as the dinosaur approached them all.

"Holy crap!" he heard Riley shout as the dinosaur finally came into full view for them all.

"You're the fool here," Tyler said as he took out a small battery. He slid it into a newly formed blaster and told Crysis, "You can't handle us. Come on dino buddy! Let's show him what red can do." To Crysis's begrudged marvel, Tyler jumped up high and landed into the dinosaur's mouth. From there, he aimed his blaster carefully and the dinosaur aided him by shooting him right towards Crysis in a powerful red beam. Tyler slashed him right through the heart, sparking heat and flames around them.

"You won't win!" Crysis shouted as he fell to his knees slowly. "I've failed...I failed..." Tyler stood valiantly as a series of explosions burst behind him.

~X~

Sledge watched with intent as behind the explosion there was no body. His hands curled on his panel. He was to arrive any moment now and Crysis would surely face his wrath.

~X~

As the zord opened its mouth, another red battery came out to Tyler, having formed in its loyalty while they fought. Tyler didn't know where he would go, but he prayed it wasn't far. "Thanks dude," Tyler said to the zord as the rest of the team came to stand beside him. Tyler turned around to them with a happy sigh. "I assume you're all happy with the outcome."

~X~

Crysis stumbled into Sledge's room with a charred body and fell onto the floor. He saw his leader's frozen feet and could feel the frozen glare shoot through his wound. He didn't dare look up into the eyes of rage.

"I'm sorry."

"You're lucky I got you out before they could."

Crysis sighed silently. "It was no use was it?"

"You're no use to me anymore. I have much better, stronger people to send."

"And yet you don't go down yourself?" he laughed, for he had nothing to lose. He heard the sheath of a sword behind him and looked down. "I'm sorry."

"My father would've been so disappointed in you," Sledge said quietly.

The last thing Crysis felt was a slash through his heart before his soul left his body.

~X~

Jason had immediately teleported the five of them back to Kiera's basement to celebrate, but was surprised to find everyone still morphed. Fact of the matter was that they had all been acquainted with each other in this very spot. It was like they couldn't guess who each other were.

But he still greeted them all with a big smile, and said, "Looks to me that you've all got something to fight for. Thank you. Man, that was so awesome! Especially you, Tyler."

"Tyler?" the pink ranger asked.

"Yeah," Tyler nodded as he took his helmet off. "While you all ditched the opportunity to save the world, I kind of hung around a bit. I'd like to stay if you don't mind." He saw Jason nod and he turned back around to the group of rangers. "And you act like you have no idea who everyone is. There were only four of us that got silver boxes with power ranger morphers, guys."

"Hey," the black ranger said. "What if they were given to someone else, or left on the side of the street? We could potentially be anybody."

"But that's not smart, Chase," Tyler replied. He saw the black ranger freeze. "And really, there was no point in hiding your Kiwi accent. _I_ even guessed who you were."

Chase took off his helmet and huffed. Upon instinct on the battle field, he had covered up his accent in a full american version. He was hoping he'd go home right after, not be transferred to the after party. But out of all people, he naturally never thought Tyler would be his red ranger. "Well I was on business mode..."

"You guys act like Jason found someone in fourteen hours to jump up and be rangers," Tyler said, gesturing to green and pink. "Does that seem plausible to you guys? You can at least take off your helmets? There's no point in masking yourselves, even if we met a day ago."

Shelby took off her helmet. "Of course we knew who we were. We just...wanted to keep it strictly business related. Like Chase said."

Riley removed his helmet. "Well that would kinda suck, knowing that we already know each identity. And that Chase has a decent American accent."

"Your whole philosophy of keeping this under the helmet was utterly pointless." Tyler shook his head with a chuckle. "It's almost like adding an unnecessary scene to fanfiction."

"Either way, I think it's better if we know one another." Jason announced. "For those of you that don't know, I'm Jason Lee Scott. Hopefully, I'll be with you throughout your whole journey. You'll never be alone. So who are we? I know red is Tyler, pink is Shelby, black ranger's name is...Chase?" An affirmative nod from him signaled him to continue onto green. "You're Riley? Yeah, you're Riley." The blue ranger was the only ranger remaining unmorphed, and Kiera was impressing him for two days now. Blue stood ways off of the crowd of four, seemingly awkward and out of place. "And I don't think you've met our blue ranger. This, I assume, is Koda."

"Who?" Shelby said. Koda nervously took off his own helmet, revealing his restless hair and brand-new persona to the rest of the team. He only knew Jason.

"Kiera helped me," he said simply towards Jason. The others held themselves in uncertainty as Koda looked around at them in the same manner. "Where is Kiera, Jason?"

"Who is this Kiera person?" Riley asked.

Jason smiled. "Kiera is the reason you have power. She made everything, from your morphers to your suits. She's the one behind the whole Dino Charge Power Ranger project and she's kind of a genius. And she's hiding behind that door eavesdropping on our every word." He turned around to the small back door, where he could practically hear Kiera's antisocial breathing stop. "I'd like to introduce you to Kiera Bogan."

The room fell into silence, a ponder waiting for this genius to come outside. Jason hoped that she'd get to see them, see what she helped make, for once. But the door was glued to its frame, Kiera holding the sound of the room up with her pinky finger. He called her name again and received the same reaction.

Jason smiled sadly to the rest of them. "Sorry, I forgot. Kiera stepped out a bit earlier. Great job today guys. Really. Now go home and rest. You've earned it." They nodded and paraded out of the headquarters, leaving Jason and a potential Kiera alone.

Because Jason had teleported the four of them directly out of the basement, Tyler, Chase, Shelby, and Riley had never been through Kiera's mansion of a house. So when they exited the metal door, they were hit with an overwhelming setting of breakable items. All of them seemed to slow down their pace, taking time to observe every piece of the home in all its chandelier and crystal glory. It was getting dark outside, but it seemed like all the lights of the world turned on in one house. Koda had escorted them out before running upstairs himself. Once they got outside, they silently opened the gate in the illuminating garden of large houses. They were soon just four strangers again as they parted ways, a morpher hanging inside their jackets.

~X~

Jason walked back into the lonely living room, two beer bottles in his hands as he plopped onto the couch. He automatically held one out to his side, watching in the corner of his eye as Kiera dropped down right next to him and snatched the bottle out of his hand.

"They would've loved to see you," Jason said taking a big gulp.

"Yeah, well I don't like to present myself too much. Haven't had a lot of practice," she replied.

"Well you look their age. But then again, you are drinking a beer."

"Mmm-hmm. I'm twenty one, though, and this is my first."

"First? Isn't that a little strong?"

"Nah. I told myself last year that I'd have my first beer on my twenty-first birthday."

Jason and Kiera were both looking forward into the open air, beer bottles in hand. Jason blinked and gently looked over to Kiera, who was still looking forward with a sad smile hanging in her eyes. He whispered, "Happy birthday. Man I wish I would've known. I could've thrown a good party."

"This is the fourteenth birthday my parents have missed." Kiera shook her head with a chuckle. "They pretty much lived in Singapore during my childhood and left me with my nanny until I turned eighteen and they went to go live there permanently. Every year, I've been spending my birthday alone."

Jason blinked. "My parents always send me cards," he said quietly. "You're saying they haven't come for all this time?"

"They're business and money and diplomatic and don't want a daughter who spends her time away from people to make science," she said, looking at him. "I didn't fit in with them, so they left. And that's okay with me."

"Okay...okay."

"It does get lonely here, Jason," Kiera added, recalling from when they first met. "A big house like this and only one person. I appreciate Aunt Hayley being two hours away, but...it's just not the same."

"Let your brilliance fill the house for you."

She smiled and leaned back into the couch. "This is probably the best birthday ever. Thank you for coming, Jason."

"Anytime."

They both sighed together. "So what's there to see in Angel Grove?"

Jason grew a childish grin. "Well first off, I've _got_ to take you to Ernie's."

* * *

><p><em>Tyler- Brennan Mejia<br>Chase- James Davies  
>Riley- Michael Taber<br>Shelby- Camille Hyde  
>Koda- Yoshi Sudarso<br>Kiera- Claire Blackwelder  
>Jason Lee Scott- Austin St. John :)<em>


	9. Ep 2: Awkward

Chase leaped valiantly into the air, grabbing the end of his skateboard with a smile as he landed gracefully on the concrete. Though there were little people in the park that morning, people would've thought he was trying to impress everyone. It worked.

As he perpetually flipped over his skateboard and landed with ease at the same time, he seemed to be getting closer to the city because the people got closer and closer. Including one gorgeous blue eyed brunette sitting right in the middle of skyscrapers and trees with her phone. Yes, one miss Jenna Mackley, Chase thought to himself with a smile, who was stubborn but extremely lovely. Kind of like Shelby had been and was...

"Well hello," he said with his charming accent, stopping his skateboard before her. "Enjoying a lovely morning, I see?"

"You could say that," she replied as she stood up with a closed book. "But you also just arrived."

He simply laughed it off. "I assume the afternoon will be just as lovely. It's a shame that I'll be spending it alone." He glanced over to the sun and back to her, the light dancing off steel eyes. "Why don't you spare me an empty feeling and join me?"

"I'm a very busy woman," Jenna began. Chase watched her with intent, her listing all the reasons (excuses) why she couldn't go out with him. While she droned on with intelligence, his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. He discreetly slipped his cellphone out from his pocket. A message was soon staring him in the face.

_Meet me at Kiera's house ASAP.- Jason Lee Scott.  
>The same place you were at yesterday- Jason Lee Scott.<em>

Chase scrunched his nose in confusion, then tried to recall what had happened last time and succeeded. He continued wondering why even though there were obvious reasons.

"...and if you want a girl to go out with you, you might want to pay her some attention," Chase heard Jenna conclude with a lift of a purse. Her stubborn lips were back he saw, but before she could walk away he gently grabbed her hand to pull her back to him. He began giving reasons of his own.

~X~

Koda sat at the dining table, a large wooden plank stretching from wall to wall. In front of him was a bowl of some food with milk, _cereal_ Kiera and Jason had called it. He stared at it with deep interest, which had engulfed him as he sat quietly in the lavish room. For some reason, he felt safe. But he still sat alone.

~X~

Shelby stopped her motorcycle on the side of the road when her phone buzzed off in her pocket. Tearing off her helmet, she saw two messages pop up on her screen. Cars honked down the busy road as she unlocked her phone and promptly scrunched her forehead.

_Meet me at Kiera's house ASAP.- Jason Lee Scott.  
>The same place you were at yesterday- Jason Lee Scott.<em>

~X~

_Meet me at Kiera's house ASAP.- Jason Lee Scott.  
>The same place you were at yesterday- Jason Lee Scott.<em>

Tyler covered the glaring sun with the screen of his phone and read the two messages Jason had sent him. He pensively thought if the others had gotten them as well. He decided to wait two minutes, and then run to the house as fast as he could. He set the phone down and closed his eyes peacefully.

"Alright, Jason. Just give me my muse back for two more minutes."

~X~

Riley poked the dummy in front of him right in the chest, and retracted his fencing with a content smile. With his break commencing, he began casually twirling the sword around with complete grace just as his phone sang for him on his dining table. He curiously went over and saw messages just for him from an unknown number but a known person.

_Meet me at Kiera's house ASAP.- Jason Lee Scott.  
>The same place you were at yesterday- Jason Lee Scott.<em>

He furrowed his brows, wiped off a piece of dust from the table, and simply shrugged his shoulders before slipping the sword back into its rightful position.

~X~

"Kiera!" Jason called with a little grin. "I think I accidentally pushed a button."

He finally found where she had been hiding when the basement door slammed open with a Kiera Bogan ready to pounce. Her face seemed gentler than their first impression. Of course, she couldn't trust him just yet.

"Which one, because I know that I implemented nine total in the last two years?" she said as she stepped forward carefully.

Jason's forehead creased, but he shook it off and went on. "Do you live in that basement?"

Kiera sighed. "That would be nice..."

"Yeah, alright. Too much screen time isn't good for you. Now come over here for a second." Once she did, he made sure to place her right next to him. Together they stared at the little living area composed of white leather couches and a large TV. "Tell me if you notice anything different."

After a mere eight seconds, Kiera frowned and looked up at Jason. "Do you think I'm stupid? Because I pretty much made a power ranger team and-"

"GO GO POWER RANGERS!"

"AHHH!" she shrieked before running behind Jason.

He let out a little laugh as a smaller frame clung onto him and he looked over to the now fuller living room. Tyler, Chase, Shelby, Riley and Koda were scattered between the couches and various hiding spaces, favoring Jason's plan to introduce them to Kiera. Seeing they succeeded, they chuckled themselves and stood at even distances.

"Too late, Kiera." Jason said. "They already saw you." He heard a sigh, felt a punch to the back, and saw a shadow coming next to him again. "Now, may I introduce you to Ms. Kiera Bogan. She's the one behind this whole thing, so thank and/or blame her."

"Hi Kiera," the rangers said in unison. Kiera just gave an awkward two-fingered salute and a deep sigh. _Time to get social._

~X~

"I don't know if Jason has mentioned this," Kiera said as she walked back and forth within the basement. "But if the Energems fall into the wrong hands, the results could be catastrophic."

"The Energems?" Tyler questioned. "That thing that not-so-Crysis was talking about?"

"He spoke of them?" Kiera asked. Tyler nodded and Jason saw Kiera's shoulders relax. "Okay, now I'm not as confused."

"Well I'm confused," Shelby confessed.

"This means that those monsters are after the Energems. If they get a hold of them, we're done for. We're gonna make sure that that doesn't happen. You guys have to fight... for everything. Or else the only thing this world will be composed of is darkness. We're gonna do everything we can to make sure those monsters don't get a hold of that power. We have to get it first."

"We're beating them at their own game," Riley nodded. "They just won't know it...yet."

"Exactly," Jason said, rising from his place on the table to go over to Kiera. "We should do our best not to let these monsters know that we're hunting down the same path. Then we can try and be one step ahead, like a sneak attack."

"And this is Jason Lee Scott, my assistant," Kiera added, jabbing him in the chest.

"You made the first red ranger your _assistant_?" Tyler said, almost offended while he defended his color.

"Yes. I have connections as well as the lead on this project. He's the assistant." she replied, nudging Jason again with a light smirk. She scanned over the crowd, impressed and uncertain of the future. Her gaze seemed to linger on Koda, who stared down or around and stayed quiet in the modern world. "But that's not why I asked Jason to bring you here, and because of his pathetic force, I guess I'll do it."

"Hey, thanks."

"You all are going to be fighting together until these monsters are defeated. But you all aren't really friends are you?"

"Well..."

"Uh..."

"Acquainted perhaps..."

"Yes, I see," she said. "What I had asked Jason to do is make sure you guys spend some quality time together. You-"

"Are you serious?" Chase groaned.

Kiera gave him a look, which immediately told him to keep his lips sealed while she spoke. "Yeah, I am. I won't have a team that fights just for business. If that's the case, leave. But for today, you five are going to get accommodated with each other. Know every detail of each other, what annoys the other, and everything in between. And make sure you involve your blue ranger in all of this. He needs to know a bit of the...culture over here."

"Your first obstacle," Jason said. "You're going to go and eat at Tourism _together_."

They were all silent and looking around to each other awkwardly (except for Tyler, who looked enthusiastic about the whole idea). Kiera knew how distant they must have been feeling, but she wanted to see them all smile with each other and have friends and cry in a circle and live life fuller. She wouldn't have lonely people on her team.

"Don't you think we have things to be doing?" Shelby said, while Chase gestured to her in agreement.

"No because you have to go to Tourism with your new friends," Kiera replied. "So go." When they all sat still, she dropped her frame. "Now. Go now."

"Alright, we heard you!" Chase said as he hopped up from his chair and went out of the basement first with Shelby and Riley following.

"Koda, it's okay." Kiera said to the confused blue ranger. Tyler strayed by the door and waited for him. "If they hurt you, come to me."

Koda looked from her back to Tyler at the door. The ghost of a confident smile shadowed his face. "Okay."

"Come on, Koda." Tyler said in a comforting tone. "We'll be fine."


	10. A Rubik's Cube

_I don't want to offend anyone, I promise! Please tell me if there is any offensive comments in this chapter or in this story._

* * *

><p>"Do you guys like North Point?"<p>

Tyler made a valiant attempt to start a conversation, because five practical strangers who were power rangers in disguise walking miles in silence couldn't continue for him. He wasn't silent as it was. He was the jumpy one who always wanted to get people to do something. And in his case, he desperately needed something. But all he got for replies were mumbles of "Yeah," or "Sure, or just noises that let him know that he failed and/or his new team was colorfully unenthusiastic.

His smile faltered a bit seeing everyone so distant. "Well do you guys like Kiera and Jason?" Same response, but this time he got to chuckle as he opened the door to the cafe. "Well you guys are doing this for them." As usual, Tourism was busy and bustling from wall to wall, but since it was only the early afternoon they successfully found a booth. Especially since on the one three seats down there was a white sign saying "RESERVED: Tyler, Chase, Riley, Shelby, and Koda."

Tyler watched with interest as in a tiny squeezing booth they still managed to put infinite space in between them. Riley begrudgingly shared his side with Chase who was equally begrudged. Shelby awkwardly made room for Koda to sit, showing that while she was a bit rusty in these situations, she'd still make room for a friend. When he was assured that everyone was somewhat comfortable and settled, he reached over for the menu at the end of the table. Under him, Chase read the inside of the card.

"Welcome rangers. Your first task: Order the same meal?" Chase said, triggering everyone to have the same reaction as him with a crinkled face. Tyler nodded and scanned the menu so far, ready for the fireball to come at him.

"So let's see here," he said. In his hands was a small laminated paper and the promise they had to keep to Kiera and Jason, which seemed to be his greatest priority now. "Fried chicken meal?"

"I'm a vegetarian," was the first thing spoken out of the quiet crowd, said by Shelby at the window. Chase looked to her in slight horror and she crossed her arms with a frown. "Shut up. It's a way of life."

"Okay then. Ooh, how about the jalapeno pizza special?"

"No jalapenos for me," Riley said next. "Or pizza in that matter."

"Shellfish soup?"

Chase raised his hand. "Allergic."

"Burgers then, both regular and vegetarian."

"You're kidding..."

Tyler frowned. "What's wrong with burgers?"

Shelby looked at him. "He means that the burgers here are pretty unhealthy. Chase wouldn't want his pretty little self to get heartburn, would you?" Chase only replied with a grimacing look traced with sly eyes.

"Okay, then I'll put lettuce and tomato on yours."

"What's a burger?"

"Oh boy," Riley said, collapsing onto the back of the booth. He pulled a Rubik's cube from his pocket and began twisting it swiftly to everyone's surprise. "This could take a while."

Chase furrowed his eyebrows and then turned his attention over to Koda. The lone ranger sat quietly, seemingly in a daze as if it was a new world for him. It might've been, he wouldn't lie. "What would you eat, blue?"

Koda shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever I could find, really." The whole booth fell into silence.

Tyler pursed his lips, but soon broke out into a comforting smile. "Salad it is." Everyone else finally fell into agreement, finally for him. "I'll be back."

Approximately seventeen seconds after Tyler left the table and seventeen seconds into another round of silence, Riley slammed his cube onto the table. He ended up gathering their attention, and the three rangers at the lunch table were staring at him and his perfect cube with awe.

"Hold on..." Chase said, trying to shake himself out of a small daze. "What just happened?"

"Oh," Riley said with a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I was bored."

"_Oh_," Shelby mocked, mimicking his tone in which solving a Rubik's cube in that speed was average.

Koda looked at the item with great interest. "What is that?"

"Um, a Rubik's cube. A big mental toy they invented."

"So it's...how did you do that so quickly?"

Riley shrugged his shoulders. "I practice."

"Jesus..." Shelby muttered. Footsteps and clattering metal gradually got louder and the shadow of a red ranger hovered over them with a five bowl tray. He set one down in front of each of them before pulling up a nearby chair and sitting down himself. And to Koda, who had barely eaten much of his strange breakfast, it was much of a blessing. So while everyone forked their green leaves slowly, he and his hands hungrily dove into the bowl with a smile.

Chase was taken aback once he caught a glance of Koda improperly devouring their lunch for the day, which had caught the attention of the whole team as well as some appalled customers. Shelby had gotten to him before he could, lightly grabbing his wrist in signal for him to stop. Koda remained confused and Chase pushed a fork towards him. "So you don't know what a burger, a Rubik's cube, or a fork apparently is. So you go first, Koda. Tell us what we should know about you."

Koda seemed intimidated by the fork, and leaned back in gaze of his whole team. "What should I?"

"He _isn't_ from here," Tyler informed them of what Kiera had told him. "If you guys didn't already assume that. He's actually a caveman."

The last word was said as a whisper, but the four didn't look so surprised. The only thing they were surprised about was the time traveling Koda must have encountered, because nothing made sense.

"And that was figured out how?" Riley asked.

Tyler shrugged. "Kiera did some stuff that I couldn't understand. But they're all assumptions, so no one knows much."

"So, Mr. Caveman," Chase said. "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember...little things, like parts of things...no."

"Probably just amnesia," Riley said. "What _do_ you remember?"

Koda's mind went off into an invisible dimension, away from the real world. "I remember a bunch of planes. Everyone was screaming and running or crying. There was fire everywhere. I remember...that suddenly I didn't have a family anymore. They were all gone. I found this blue...circle on the ground and the next thing I know I'm taken somewhere alone. Somewhere brighter and somewhere that wasn't home. Or at least didn't feel like home. I...I don't know where I was...am."

After a moment of silence, Shelby perked up and spoke quietly. "You're saying your home was destroyed?"

"Yes."

"If you _are_ a caveman," Chase said. "How do you know how to talk like us so well? Because linguistic wise, you're doing better than some people I know."

"That's probably where home comes in," Riley answered. "He was probably transported with language to somewhere where language wasn't developed."

"For now, this is home," Tyler said. He picked up the card in the center, which he had noticed had a long list scripted onto the back in fresh sharpie. "Well look at that. Kiera's one step ahead of me." He began reading bullets off. "Thanks team. Make sure you introduce yourself well. Here's a list of guidelines you can use: full name, where you were born (if not here), age, favorite color, extracurricular activities, and what you want to do when you're older. So any volunteers?"

The booth was silent. Tyler was slightly relieved to know that the four of them at least found something in common. Or five of them, in his case, in which the newest team of power rangers was made up of completely awkward kids.

"Okay then, I'll go. Full name is Tyler David Navarro and I'm eighteen. I was born in San Francisco, my favorite color's red, I do a lot of community service, and that's exactly what I want to do when I'm older." He looked over at the black ranger. "Circle time. Go."

Chase threw his hands in the air, but opened his mouth anyway. "Full name: Chase Alexander Randall, favorite color is black. I'm eighteen, born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. My parents are full-on Kiwis and culturally I'm far from it. I play football for North Point High, and I'm also in JROTC, and I don't know. Go green."

"Riley Jay Griffin, and I'm seventeen years old. My favorite color is purple and I was born in Kennedy, which is a smaller ranch five minutes away from Panorama. I fence, _really well_, and I'm on the school's track team. And I don't know either, something like public relations. Or work in the UN." He looked across from him.

"I'm Shelby. Uh, Shelby Anne Watkins. I'm eighteen and I was born here. My favorite color's indigo..." She saw Chase get ready to protest and she cut him off with a glare. "Indigo's a cool color, now don't interrupt. I don't know what I want to do. I'm..." Her sentence was seemingly hacked and she ran a nervous hand along her neck. "I'm kind of a..."

The last piece of her sentence faded into a mumble. The whole crowd ushered her with a unanimous, "What?"

"...I'macheerleader."

The only one who could hear her properly was Chase, for he suddenly burst out laughing and pointed a light finger at his pink ranger. He brought attention upon their little crowd as he gasped for air and everyone recalled and understood what she had said.

"So, you're telling me..." Chase breathed. "That you, out of all people, walk around in those short skirts like all the popular girls you hate, and cheer at the games like you're actually cheery?" He broke out into another round of laughter.

"You're a Raider's cheerleader?" Riley asked her with a smirk and a raise of his eyebrow.

Shelby rolled her eyes and hoped that Chase would die of laughter. "Yeah. I thought I was more of a Peyton Sawyer kind of type. I have _enough_ pep for competitive cheer though." She glared at Chase again who concluded his laughter, but wore a big cheeky grin sure to annoy Shelby through the end of time.

"_That_ will never wear out!"_  
><em>

Shelby looked over at a wide-eyed Koda, who too was a bit shrunken at Chase's laughs. "You go."

"Again? Well, you know I'm Koda. Kiera knows my age, and I like yellow. The color of the sun, yeah...yellow. And I don't know."

"Why do you like yellow?"

"Yellow's a happy color."

Everyone seemed to think of the bright sunshine that flooded the town they never cared for up till now just as the check rolled onto their table. Kiera had assured them in her scribbled handwriting that she would pay for their meal.

"One step at a time. Thank you, rangers," Tyler read. "But you're never done. Tomorrow morning at eight o' clock, head over to this address and don't run away. Everything will be explained here." He pointed the receipt to anyone in hopes that one of them would be familiar with the address.

With one look Riley informed the whole group, "That's the airport."

Chase's eyes widened. "As in the plane emporium?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Uh..."

"No..." Tyler began before an amused grin. "Are you afraid of flying?"

"Don't assume," Chase replied while looking down. "But-"

"But I'm right, right?"

"Well then, how'd you get across the Pacific?" Shelby inquired

"One: I was a little boy. And two: I threw up on the way."

Riley sniggered. "Too bad. Versatility is everything, Mr. Randall. You're a Power Ranger now."

~X~

"So now we can go?" Chase asked.

"Yes," Shelby replied.

But Tyler shook his head. "No."

"No?"

"No. I have been...ordered to guide you to another location."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"The North Star. Well for children it is."

"The orphanage on the end of town?" Shelby asked. Koda, too, was furrowing his brows.

"No, no, no." Chase began. "You people want me to fly in a plane _and_ work with children? Are you mad?"

"It's fun, though..." Tyler said as he crossed his arms. "And don't you people need community service hours?"

Koda looked on as Riley, Chase, and Shelby all looked blank, frozen, and defeated. The seniors fumbled with fingers and stared at the ground while muttering excuses and debating their options.

"Don't you?" Riley huffed and nodded over to Tyler.

"Nah," the red ranger replied as he turned around. "Already got four hundred down."

"_Four hundred_?"

"Yep, and onto four hundred and fifty. Taxi!"


	11. Mad World

A bright colored sign read "North Star Children's Center" above the group of five on top of a simple white building away from the deep city. Reactions were mixed among the crowd, ranging from Tyler's energy to Chase's fear.

"What could be so bad?" Riley said to Chase in a baby voice.

"Don't."

"He's right, though," Shelby added, poking his arm.

"Come on guys," Tyler said as he opened the door. "Trust me, it won't be that bad."

Inside was the complete contrary (to Chase, at least). At the peak of one o' clock, which Chase had believed to be nap time, kids scrambled from end to end with crayons and paper and tears. Wails could be heard loudly from a distance as chaos crept in slowly for some innocent kids. Kids who didn't have to understand what was going on in the world just yet.

Tyler glanced behind him. Their expressions were now all the same. "See. I told you it won't be that bad."

"Tyler!" The five were broken out of their thoughts of what was to come with a short, grinning woman who immediately grappled Tyler into a hug. "I didn't know you were coming down today."

"I've kinda been assigned to," he replied. "But I brought helpers. Guys, this is Miss Jolie, the head caretaker of all these children."

"You take care of all of them?" Chase asked with awe.

"Mmm-hmm," she answered. "Every single one of them, just like a mother should. Now may I ask who these lovely faces are?" Shelby, Chase, Riley, and Koda were all mentioned simultaneously in quiet timid voices. Jolie got back to them with a warm smile. "Well then, we've got about twenty minutes until nap time. We need to get everyone's snack ready, calm them down, get them to set their cots up, and clean up around here. Do everything to take care of these children and to keep them safe and well. Now I'll need three of you to help me get these monsters ready for nap. Tyler, you and your blue and green friend can do that. And Miss Shelby and Chase, I believe, can help out in the nursery."

As Riley and Shelby sniggered, Chase's face color had paled in a blast. "You mean with all the babies? Sorry Miss, but I'm not very graceful on my feet."

"Well this is the perfect time to learn, sir, especially if you're planning to be a father. Now get to work!"

~X~

"Tyler!" one of the young boys called running up to the red ranger. He had just escaped Riley's grasp. "That mean man is being mean to me."

"He won't sit down, for god's sake," Riley defended as Tyler snorted. "And he threw a pair of scissors at me!"

Scissors seemed irrelevant to child's play. "Don't worry," Tyler assured patting him on the head. "Greenie's a good man." As Tyler left the kid and the fencer in a bull stare, the younger boy blew a raspberry at him before darting to the other side of the room.

"Damn kids..."

"Don't do that!" Koda shouted to one of the girls. A young female with long blonde pigtails was currently pouncing and nailing a wailing boy. Koda might've been impressed. Where he came from, women weren't naturally considered the strongest. But he remembered that Miss Jolie asked to keep the kids safe, and he wasn't doing very well by acting as a bystander. Therefore, upon instinct, he scooped the two kids in his big arms and separated the two with brute strength. He was keeping them at arms distance as Tyler came over.

"Nice," the red ranger complimented.

~X~

The nursery was a separate part of the center, only a room away from what sounded like a rampage of children. Chase didn't think that babies would be quieter than them, but he also didn't think he could hold one for very long.

"So why did we have to do all this again?" Chase asked quietly.

Shelby gently set down a baby in one of the cribs. "Maybe for bonding exercises and community service, black ranger," she said in a light attempt to mimic Kiera's voice, making him smile in the limelight. "Come on. Kiera's probably got a reason for everything."

"She said herself that she was confused most of the time!"

"Shh!" she hissed. Too late, too late, too late, Chase's brain repeated as a slow, but gradual wailing sound escaped from his arms. He sighed at the truth of how terrible he was with children and how he failed something else. The weight was suddenly taken out from his arms and he knew it was Shelby deciding that she did better with the babies. "Let me. Mr. Chase isn't very approachable, now is he?"

Her last phrase was said in a communicative baby voice, which seemed to work and make Chase chuckle all at the same time. He curiously glanced over his shoulder as the room softened and gained interest in Shelby and her soothing. Seeing her seemed to tilt his lips upward right before the door burst open.

"Dude..." Riley muttered as he and his disheveled hair met him at the nursery's threshold.

Chase snickered. "What could go wrong?"

Riley answered with a groan before Chase saw him stumble onto the ground and grit his teeth before turning back into the center. "Don't even!"

The black ranger smiled cheekily. "Isn't it convenient that our morphers aren't buzzing right now?"

"I want the monsters."

~X~

Jason furrowed his brows as Kiera typed away gracefully on her computer. The mentors were at opposite ends mentally, Jason failing to bring up an engaging conversation just as Kiera buried herself farther into her research.

"What do you think they're all up to?" Jason asked her.

Without even the slightest tilt of her head, she replied, "Don't know. They've only been to one place and I'm sure they're annoyed with me already. I mean, I asked Tyler to help me persuade them towards voluntary service, too.

He blinked. "So where did you send them to anyway?"

~X~

"A children's center!" Riley said as he collapsed onto a rocking chair swaying on the sunny porch. After all that was said and done, Miss Jolie had to let her lovely helpers enjoy some piece in the back center. So the five of them were now relaxing and sipping lemonade and pretending that life was normal. Riley sighed deeply. "Of all places, you decide on a children's center."

"I thought it was fun," Tyler countered.

"You think everything's fun..." Chase replied, pressing a finger to his temple. His red ranger just smiled and took a big gulp out of his glass.

"I liked it," Shelby said. "I think it would've been fun to have a younger sibling."

"Oh yeah? Why?"

She shrugged. "It would've been nice having a responsibility. Maybe someone you had to watch over, someone who would look up to you, someone...who'd care." She noticed how her team fell into a pondering silence. "Do you guys ever think that...like do you guys think that someone's world might be disturbed if you disappeared? Like someone would actually notice and be upset if you were gone?"

Chase turned his head to the side and away from everyone else. "All the time," he whispered.

"Is it bad that I smile at that?" she added, a smile flashing briefly onto her face before disappearing all together. "I'd like to know what it'd be like if someone cared..."

After a moment, Chase looked back up. "My parents care a little too much. I never had enough space."

Shelby blinked. "My parents don't care at all. I have too much space."

"And I am right in the middle," Riley spoke up. "I don't need my dad caring for me, but the other part of me does. I'm stuck here, no father coming after me and sometimes being thankful for it."

"You know what I know?" Tyler suddenly shot up out of his seat inquisitively and gestured to the four before him. "The five of us are more alike than we think."

And there they were again, five kids drinking lemonade wishing that life was normal. And okay.

~X~

Down in the city, a new playground was being welcome, unveiled, and opened at once. The cheers and smiles that went around in a circle were the same ones that made monsters cringe and fuel themselves to be so strong that they could defy the strongest.

"Destroy it all! Don't hesitate." The newest monster, Smasher, boomed. With distant power to rappel everyone into the real world, he quickly broke down a building and left the heart of town to be surrounded by smoke and ashes. As he wished, the citizens jumped in fear and began running to their idea of safety. He knew that back at the headquarters, his team was just filling up with power.

"I'll be surprised if you still want to live in this town by evening."

~X~

Chase, Riley, and Shelby had retreated back to their own locations, with Koda going back to Kiera's house for some more work to figure out where he came from. So after helping out a bit more in the children's center, Tyler became a lone red ranger. He walked outside of the outskirts with a curious smile on his face and down into the city. He wondered why it was so quiet just before he saw a column of smoke erupt in the air far away from him.

Suddenly, the local speaker, strung high on one of the wooden posts next to him, came on as a deep voice began speaking to the town. "This is the mayor speaking. I just want to reassure everyone in North Point of the newly enforced safety procedures. It seems we have a monster attacking downtown, who hit just as the ribbon for our new playground was cut..."

Tyler faded everything out after the word of the monster. He quickly tore the revolver out from his jacket and sprinted down to downtown.

~X~

"We know this target is where most of our population is located right now. So we want to remind everyone just what they must do for the duration of the monster's presence..."

Shelby stood with the current round of Tourism employees and customers in the back. The restaurant held silent with worried fear as the mayor's voice was the only thing that could be heard and felt. She was squished between two other coworkers, who would protest her every breath of her urge to break out of the cafe.

"Wherever you are, make sure you jump inside the nearest building for safety. Proceed to your building's designated safety area..."

"Shelby, where are you going?" her coworker shouted. Shelby had squeezed herself through the crowd and towards the back door. It was deserted and naturally out of sight and she thought this would be an easy way to go be a power ranger.

She turned back around nonchalantly. "I saw some people outside, Gabriel. I'm gonna go reel them in."

"Alright," he replied and turned back around to make sure everyone was okay. He heard the door creak open and shut behind him. He turned back around to check on Shelby, trying to reassure himself that she'd be back in two seconds.

But when he glanced outside, there were no people. Not even Shelby.

~X~

Around Chase, people quietly but frantically ran around trying to find a nearby building. His date Jenna clutched onto his arm, intimidated to be caught in the middle of such a fight and the booming voice over head.

"...whether it's the basement or back of the building. Get there as quickly as possible..."

"Jenna, go now." Chase commanded, grabbing her by her shoulders and nodding to the nearest building to them. "I'll find you after."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I've got to get to some people. But I promise I'll be back."

Before she could reply, he dashed off and left her in the hands of the city.

~X~

"People of North Point, this has become a serious affair which will most likely continue to haunt us, break us, pain us until they are defeated. We cannot have a repeat of last time. So please, do as I say and get to safety..."

Koda turned to Kiera. "What happened last time?"

Kiera took a pause before ushering him out with his morpher quickly. "Go Koda. Go now!"

~X~

Riley stealthily maneuvered his way past the guards of his apartment building and swiftly made his way down to the city center.

"Our main priority is all of you," the mayor said. "We need to make sure everyone in this town remains safe and out of harms way. Power Rangers, wherever you all are, we're counting on you."

~X~

"Here!" Tyler said, arming himself with his morpher. He was lucky to have no commoners gaping at him using a yellow gun while disobeying the mayor. The army of foot soldiers had appeared again. They did their part to shield their boss for the day, who stood in spiked glory watching him and looked around for something to take down.

"Don't you want to fight?" the red ranger called to get his attention. He took out the little battery in his pocket and slid it into his morpher. He pulled the trigger and the red spandex he had come to love enclosed him, full of power. "Dino Saber!"

As Tyler tore his way through the crowd, Smasher called over a soldier, a Vivik, to his aid. "Lead him over. I'll retrieve Aigaron and send out Fury to finish my job."

Tyler seemed to follow the path of the leader, shifting away from the city and the playground and more to the places concealed. He was eventually made his way down to the head of it all, who seemed all the more calm and ready to leave.

"Ironic?" he said, meeting his arm with his sword. "The Smasher gets smashed." As he pushed the monster away, he switched out his sword for the regular gun to finish off the job. But as he took his shot, a border saved the life of a monster and threw his slash to the side. Before the smoke stood a new monster.

"Well that's not very nice," he muttered. "I thought you rangers were all about morality."

"It was an accident," Tyler said and got into a stance. "And who are you?"

"You may call me Aigaron. But you've made me and our army very angry. Therefore, you have lost your privilege to live!" And the new soldier charged.


End file.
